Satisfaction

And the desk turned out so totally rad, that I made some totally rad shelves to go with it.

I had made that desk and shelves because, 11 months ago, I wanted to get rid of an old table, and Chris wouldn’t let me because he wanted a place to sit and a surface to write on in his music room. And I feared that if I let him use that table in his music room, his tornado-alley style of organizing and decorating would eventually lead the music room to look like this:

And the obsessively compulsive, anally retentive, a-place-for-everything-and-everything-in-its-place control freak in me feared that this would end our marriage.

(Sorry, just went down a rabbit-hole while searching for “Can’t Even” memes, and couldn’t decide which one I liked best.)

Hence the idea for the Boom Boom Room was born: I would build a totally rad desk, then build a totally rad room around it. And today, 327 days after finishing that desk, I finally have a room worthy of such radness.

I realize that today’s rock-and-roll inspiration may not seem entirely appropriate, since I — unlike the Rolling Stones — can get satisfaction. But the obsessively compulsive, anally retentive grammar freak in me would like to point out that two negatives make a positive. So what the Rolling Stones are actually saying is that they try, and they try, and they try, and they try…and they get satisfaction.

Which, when you think about it, is a really positive message: “Hard work pays off.” Whoever said that rock and roll was the devil’s music clearly wasn’t paying attention.

Anyhoo. I finally satisfied Chris’s requirements of having a place to sit and a surface to write on in his music room, by installing the desk and shelves I made 10 months ago.

Now all it needs is musical instruments.

I have to say, I’m pretty proud of myself for planning ahead here, though. See, I hung those shelves using plain old metal brackets. But those shelves probably weighed about 25 pounds apiece, before loading them with stuff. And I had no intention of doing the smart thing and simply lining the brackets up with studs. Me? Sacrifice my aesthetic for practicality? Never.

So I used these little guys:

Six of those secure each shelf to the wall. That’s a 300-lb load limit, right? So we should be good. Because it takes an awful lot of lava lamps to get to 300 lbs. And I plan on decorating exclusively with lava lamps.

But that’s another post. We were talking about my ability to plan ahead. I knew that installing those anchors would mess up the wall pretty good, with all the white plaster dust from drilling, and the ragged white edges around the anchors, and the anchors being bright shiny silver against my dark blue wall. Plus, the dark blue would make it much harder to see the pencil lines that I would have to make in order to install the shelves all level and even. So, I installed the anchors back in August, right before I painted the wall blue.

I started by drawing my shelves on the wall. I outlined both the top and bottom of each shelf, to help me visualize the spacing and make sure it looked ok. I was only going to get one shot at getting this right.

Then I did some math to figure out how I wanted to space my brackets. I marked those spots on the wall, on the bottom line of each shelf, then held a bracket up to trace the holes where I’d drill for the anchors.

Once I had them all marked, I installed the anchors.

Then I painted the whole shebang.

So now, with the shelves installed, you totally can’t tell how messed up that wall is underneath.

And I’m really proud of myself for my planning skills. Because for all my anal-retentiveness, once I get an idea in my head, I’m more of a jumper-inner than a planner-aheader. Like that time I tore out our kitchen without knowing how to put it back together.

The Boom Boom Room is getting close to the end, you guys. And I’m already getting excited for my next project. Which, if I get my way, will also take place on the third floor of our house. But that’s also another post.

A little engineering feedback… When estimating the weight capacity of your shelf mounting, only count the pull out strength of anchors at the top of your shelf bracket. This is because downward force on the shelf pulls the top of the shelf bracket away from the wall while pushing the lower end of the bracket into the wall. The anchors at the top of the shelf bracket are supporting all the weight. The anchors at the bottom of the bracket are keeping the bracket vertical, thus maximizing the strength of the bracket. If the pull out rating of the anchor in sheetrock is 50 lbs each, then 4 times 50 is an estimated 200 lbs per shelf. Might be a little less if the center of the weight is further from the wall than the bracket is high. Still adequate.

The desk and shelves are amazing! the brackets really hurt the look tho. Also my other opinion is stay away from anything IKEA.. you have a really classy piece of custom furniture, Mentioning IKEA only diminishes the value and all your hard work.. Other than that its beautiful and Im inspired to make my own desk similar!